Facts of Life
by Lariren-Shadow
Summary: Azula thinks she's dying. Ty Lee explains she's not while and gives Azula The Talk.


**Disclaimer**: Don't own.

**A/N**: There will be another below but this comes out of comments with SCWLC on livejournal about how characters learned about the facts of life.

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Azula was certain she was dying. That had to explain all the blood. The only problem was she had plans. She was working closely with certain generals on a plan to conquer Omashu. Father was pleased with this. She couldn't just die before finishing. And twelve was awfully young to die.

Knowing that she was dying didn't stop her from going to the Academy for her lessons. Nor did it stop her from being the best in the class. She had certain expectations to live up to and she relished in the praise she received. However, while the other students eating lunch on their break she chose to curl up in a corner outside, away from prying eyes, and try to will away the pain. She wouldn't give into it, she was better than that. But it _hurt_.

She uncurled herself to sit up straight and order her body to work. "Stop hurting and stop dying. I have important things to do and they all require being alive," she sternly told herself.

"You look like me," Mai drawled startling Azula. She hoped her friend hadn't heard her confession.

"I'm just having an off day, that's all," she told the gloomy girl.

"Did you pull a muscle or something? Whenever you think someone isn't looking you look like you're in pain." Azula didn't give Mai nearly the credit she deserved sometimes. Mai took a seat next to her friend.

"I'm dealing with it."

"It doesn't look like it." Azula contemplated breaking in a new friend to replace Mai. The problem was Mai had skills Azula needed and, so far, she'd seemed loyal enough. "Come on, just tell me what it is. We both had to suffer through that stupid field medicine class and maybe there's something you forgot about-"

"The class said nothing about how I'm dying!" Azula shouted back.

Mai paled. "You're dying?" She asked in a small voice.

"It's the only thing that can explain what's happening to me." Mai just looked at her. Azula took a deep breath. "I've been bleeding, since last night and this morning it started hurting and it hasn't stopped."

Azula watch Mai look her over. "Where are you bleeding from?"

Azula tried to force her checks to cool down so her blush wouldn't be that noticeable. "From here," she gestured to her lap. She watched Mai's eyes go wide and then bite her lip. Mai seemed to be showing an awful lot of emotion about this.

"I think I gave it to you," the other girl said looking away.

"What?" If Mai was dying too that definitely meant she had to break in a new friend. If she lived through this that is.

"I had that a couple of weeks ago. I didn't say anything and it just went away. It seems more serious with you though."

"You could have said something and then maybe I wouldn't be dying."

"You're dying Azula?" Ty Lee asked as she flitted over to join her friends.

"Apparently Mai gave me a disease that may or may not stop and causes pain and constant bleeding," Azula told the acrobat dryly.

Then, to the surprise of the other two girls, Ty Lee started laughing. "You're not dying," she told them as she plopped down in front of the two of them.

"How would you know?" Azula sneered.

"Because I know what it is. You're bleeding from down there right?" Azula wondered if she had underestimated Ty Lee as much as she had Mai. "All it means is that you're now a woman and can have babies!"

"I don't want to have babies." Babies were possibly worse than dying right now. If she had a baby she would have to take care of it and devote time to it and be quietly removed from war meetings. She'd seen it before, a ruthless female general she'd idolized became pregnant and all of a sudden she wasn't helping to plan anymore. Azula had seen her with her baby girl cooing over her. Azula didn't want that.

"Well you're not going to have one now. The bleeding means you're not pregnant."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Didn't your mo-, oh," Ty Lee's eyes went wide as she realized what she was saying. "Well, I'll tell you what my mom told me." Azula realized this was possibly why she and Mai had no idea about this. "See when you become a woman your body changes. You begin to grow breasts," Azula had noticed that happening to her, "and you start to bleed once a month. For some girls it hurts more than for others and generally lasts a week but that depends on the girl as well. I was told heat helps with the pain."

"So I'm going to bleed once a month forever now? That sounds horrible. Do boys have anything as annoying as this?" There had to be something that happened to boys too.

Ty Lee looked like she was thinking. "Well I'm not really sure. Something about their voices changing and they start getting facial hair. Mom didn't really talk about what happens to boys."

"That sounds unfair."

"Boys can't have babies either. Its just how things are."

"Will this monthly bleeding ever stop?" Mai asked.

"Mom said when you're pregnant it stops. Or when you get really old."

"But what if you bleed one month and then not the next? Does that mean you're pregnant?" Mai asked biting her lip again.

"Well it could but you have to have done stuff with a boy," Ty Lee answered sagely.

"What kind of stuff?" Azula asked. She hated not knowing these things and if she could avoid this having babies thing she needed to know what to avoid.

Ty Lee blushed and squirmed. "Ok, so this is what Mom told me. See a woman has a special flower and a man is like a honeyfly. When they want to have a baby the man enters the woman's flower like when a honeyfly eats one. Then she gets pregnant and they have a baby." Ty Lee looked around. "Break is almost over and I need to go get a scroll out of the library. See you in class!" She said as she bounced away.

Azula looked at Mai. The gloomy girl looked perplexed. "Did that make any sense to you at all?" Mai asked.

"Not at all and I'm the one who has a brother." Azula only brought up Zuko's existence in private and when it proved her point. "I'm going to assume she made that part up."

"But what about what she said about the monthly bleeding?"

"That, I think, is correct. Considering we both had it and you're not dead yet it seems plausible. I'll double check with the palace healers when I get home to be sure. Don't mention this to anyone else," she warned.

"Who would I tell? Besides its kind of embarrassing to talk about." Azula had to agree with her on that.

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**A/N2**: Before people go "how can Mai have her period without her mother knowing?" a) I can see Mai's mother being kind of busy with other things and b) I hid it. So, at least to me, its possible to do that. As for Azula not knowing anything I don't really see Ozai giving her The Talk. Maybe thinking about sending someone to do it.

Reviews are always awesome.


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